Boston Flora

Month: September 2020

  • Saturday, September 26, 9:30 am – 11:30 am, or Wednesday, September 30, 2020, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Drawing Plants & Flowers, Online

    Capture the beauty and variety of plant forms with pencil and paper in this Harvard Museum of Natural History online workshop with artist and educator Erica Beade. Participants will explore botanical drawing techniques through close observation and practice with contour, gesture, foreshortening and shading. Groups will be limited to 10, allowing ample time for individual feedback. All skill levels are welcome.

    Class will be held over Zoom. The link to the class will be sent out to participants two days before the program date. Choose between September 26 from 9:30 – 11:30, and September 30 from 1 – 3.

    Members $30/Nonmembers $35. Advance registration required.

  • Thursday, October 8, 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm – Clean Water Action Virtual Fall Celebration with Attorney General Maura Healy

    Thursday, October 8, 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm – Clean Water Action Virtual Fall Celebration with Attorney General Maura Healy

    Clean Water Action is thrilled to announce the keynote speaker for its virtual 26th Annual Fall Benefit – Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. Since day one, Attorney General Maura Healey has made supporting clean and renewable energy and controlling ratepayer costs a top priority for her office. AG Healey has been a leader in fighting the federal government’s attempts to rollback critical environmental protections. In response to a recently announced policy from the federal government that suspends its enforcement of environmental protection laws during the COVID-19 pandemic, AG Healey reaffirmed her commitment to protecting public health and our natural resources. She has been a leader on public health and environmental justice. In May, she released a report on the environmental factors that compounded the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 in communities of color. This report helped raise awareness of links between the high rates of COVID-19 and pollution, and called for strong state and federal action to protect environmental justice communities. Her work has helped frame the environmental justice policy that passed the Massachusetts House unanimously in July – providing a concrete step to address the pandemic and advance justice broadly for these communities.  It is an honor to welcome Attorney General Maura Healey to our celebration!Purchase tickets and sponsorships and get more information about the event at www.cleanwater.org/MAFall2020. Tickets start at $50, but pay what you can.

  • Wednesday, October 28, 9:30 am – 4:30 pm – 2020 Season’s End Summit: Online

    As The Ecological Landscape Alliance approaches the end of the 2020 landscape season, we reflect upon many highs and lows. The intense weather events of record heat/drought/floods, a worldwide pandemic, and the long-overdue scrutiny of social injustice could not deter the one dependable constant, the tenacity of nature to carry on. While quarantining and isolating this spring, it was the re-greening of the landscape around us that brightened our days and gave us reason to hope. As the growing season progressed and plants and wildlife went through their life cycles, landscape professionals and home owners focused on the landscape with a greater sense of purpose than any prior season.

    As landcare professionals, we may not have the tools to heal our medical or societal ills, but we can focus on healing the earth that we are stewarding, one landscape at a time. Join us for this year’s Season’s End Summit for refreshing perspectives and inspiring discussions of the healing landscape tools that empower us to find  solutions as we look ahead to future seasons of stewardship.

    Neil Diboll will discuss Genetic Diversity: Critical in a Changing Climate, as well as The American Garden – A Life or Death Situation. Uli Lorimer speaks on More than Pollinator Friendly, and Heather Heimark’s topic is Retooling the Role of the Landscape Designer. Complete descriptions and biographies of the speakers can be found at https://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/2020-seasons-end-summit/

    Early registration discount through 9/28/20.
    Use coupon code: early-summit at checkout.

  • Sunday, October 4, 11:00 am – 2:00 pm – Preserving the Harvest

    In this October 4 Berkshire Botanical Garden workshop focusing on simple, shelf-stable preserving practices, we’ll move through three straightforward recipes–a pickle, a jam and whole-preserved fruit–and discuss safe ways to modify flavors. We’ll review the principles of hot water bath canning, and you’ll leave with a basic knowledge of how to replicate the process at home and adapt the recipes to your taste. All Berkshire Botanical Garden cooking classes are sponsored by Guido’s Fresh Marketplace.  The time is 11 – 2, masks required, and registration ($40 for BBG members, $55 for nonmembers) is available at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/preserving-harvest

    Janet Reich Elsbach, a home cook inspired by seasonal food, the particular cravings of those she loves to feed and the idea of bringing people together at the table writes about how the numerous things going on in the average life collide with making dinner on her blog A Raisin & A Porpoise. Her book, Extra Helping: Recipes for Caring, Connecting and Building Community One Dish at a Time, was recently published by Roost.

  • Wednesday, September 30, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm – Oh, Deer! Making Landscapes Deer Tolerable Live Webinar

    Many New England gardeners find shade a challenge to make appealing. It seems color, diversity and interest are lacking in those spaces. We’ll take a look at how the mood, plants, conditions, and a few design principles can act as our guide to stimulate new ideas. This September 30 Tower Hill program from 6:30 – 7:30 will be held virtually. Once you register you will receive a zoom link in the confirmation. This webinar will also be RECORDED and available for 2 months to all registrants. $7 for Tower Hill members, $10 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org


    Instructor Cheryl Salatino is the principal designer and owner of Dancing Shadows Garden Design, a residential landscape design and services firm. She has been designing gardens across Massachusetts since 2002. Cheryl is a Certified Landscape Designer and a Massachusetts Certified Horticulturist (MCH). She received her certificate in landscape design from the Radcliffe Seminars Landscape Design Program of Harvard University. She was awarded the status of Massachusetts Certified Horticulturist by the Massachusetts Nursery & Landscape Association (MNLA) as evidence of achieving the industry’s highest standards in nursery and landscape professionalism. Cheryl has also earned an Advanced Certificate in Horticulture and Design as part of the New England Wildflower Society’s Native Plant Studies Program.

  • Saturday, October 3, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – The Colorful & Curious World of Carnivorous Plants

    Berkshire Botanical Garden will sponsor an introduction to the colorful and curious world of gardening with the carnivorous plants of North America, on October 3 from 10 – 4. Topics will include noteworthy genus and species such as Pitcher Plants, Sundews, and Venus Flytraps, how to effectively use them in design, an introduction to bog-making and propagation.

    Matthew Turnbull, Director of Horticulture at Berkshire Botanical Garden, is a graduate of the Professional Gardener Program at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Prior to taking the position to lead the horticulture team at BBG, he served as Assistant Director of Horticulture at Wave Hill and as the National Heritage Garden Manager at the South Carolina Botanical Garden.

    Advance Registration Required. $30 for BBG members, $35 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/colorful-curious-world-carnivorous-plants

    Pitcher Plant ( Sacacemia oreophilia )
  • Saturday, October 3, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon, or Thursday, October 8, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Dig, Divide & Store: Dahlias After Season

    Saturday, October 3, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon, or Thursday, October 8, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Dig, Divide & Store: Dahlias After Season

    Join Donna Lane, past president of the New England and Rhode Island Dahlia societies, for a hands-on workshop where you will learn when and how to dig your dahlias, how to divide your underground treasures, and the various methods of storing them over the winter months.

    There will be two optional sessions, October 3 from 10 – noon, or October 8 from 6:30 – 8:30, at the Gardens at Elm Bank, Putman Classroom, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley. Class size is small, preregistration and masks required.

    Donna Lane has been dabbling in dahlias since 1967. Like many others, she was given a plant by a co-worker and has been hopelessly hooked ever since. She advises people to persist if they have problems over-wintering dahlias. “I was frustrated because I had to buy new tubers each year, but I was determined to find a way to keep them from turning to mush. The way my co-worker stored them didn’t work for me,” she says.

    Her garden is a destination for numerous garden clubs during September. “I have a small dahlia patch compared to others in the Society,” Donna says.  “I only have room for about 150 plants, but I keep trying to squeeze in just one more every year.”  Of the 150 plants she grows, she has 120 different varieties.
    Read on at Rhode Island Dahlia Society.org

    Members $30 / Non-Members $50 Register at www.masshort.org.

  • Friday, September 25, 10:30 am – Zig Zag Book: Birds, Eggs, and Nests

    Learn simple bookbinding techniques to create a zig zag book with signatures. Fill your newly created book with vintage imagery of birds, eggs, and nests. This Tower Hill Botanic Garden September 25 program will be held beginning at 10:30 am under our open sided outdoor canopy tent. Group size will not exceed current state restrictions. Tower Hill members $46, nonmembers $60. All materials will be included. Register at www.towerhillbg.org

    Suzanne Hauerstein is a professional teaching artist and the Coordinator of Volunteer & Intern Services at Tower Hill. She has over 25 years of experience designing and facilitating art-based programs for informal learning environments. Suzanne is committed to creating programs that are accessible, positive, and enjoyable learning experiences for students of all ages and abilities.

  • Cape Cod Museum of Natural History to Acquire Thomas W. Burgess/Green Briar Nature Center

    The boards of trustees of the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History in Brewster and The Thornton W. Burgess/Green Briar Nature Center in Sandwich have voted unanimously to approve the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History’s acquisition of the renowned Sandwich nature center, creating a coalition of distinguished nature centers from Sandwich to the Outer Cape. 

    The acquisition formally will take effect once legal documents of the Asset Purchase Agreement are complete. Talks have been underway between the two boards of trustees since the winter of 2014. 

    “Generous donations from the Bilezikian Foundation and Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank Charitable Foundation made the due diligence process possible,” said Robert Dwyer, President and Executive Director of the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History. Under the terms of the agreement, the names, identities, and signage of both organizations will be preserved in an effort to enrich existing programs and integrate new programs on the Sandwich and Brewster campuses. 

    The Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, founded in 1954, owns 80 acres of prime open space off Route 6A near Cape Cod Bay in the placid Stony Brook Valley and surrounded by another 300 acres of conservation land, including historic Wing Island, site of one of the earliest Paleoindian settlements. The Museum offers a variety of year-round programs, walking trails, and exhibits, including a seasonal butterfly house where Monarchs, one of the most beautiful and majestic of butterflies on earth, can be observed up-close in spring and summer. 

    The Thornton W. Burgess Society, the Green Briar Nature Center & Jam Kitchen, founded in 1976, sits on two and a half acres off bucolic Route 6A, surrounded by 57 acres of Town of Sandwich owned land with springs, hills and walking trails. Burgess—a Cape native, an internationally renowned 20th century children’s author and conservationist—wrote more than 15,000 newspaper columns, numerous books and stories in periodicals chronicling the tales of Peter Rabbit and his animal friends, Jimmy Skunk, Old Mother West Wind, Grandfather Frog, Johnny Chuck, Sammy Jay, Reddy Fox, Hooty Owl, and many others. 

    Under the terms of the acquisition, members of the Burgess Board of Trustees will join the existing Cape Cod Museum of Natural History (CCMNH) board. The acquisition brings together the contributions of two of America’s finest nature writers, Burgess and Cape Cod Museum of Natural History co-founder John Hay, whose writings have been compared to the venerable Henry David Thoreau. The contributions of both Burgess and Hay—coupled with educational displays, programs and trails at both museums—offer an extraordinary range of discovery for children and adults on Cape Cod and beyond. 

    “This is an historic moment in the history of the Museum and the Burgess Society,” said CCMNH President and Executive Director Dwyer. “The acquisition allows us to integrate and expand programs to create one of the finest regional nature centers in New England.” 

    Added Michael Pierce, President of the Burgess Society/Green Briar Nature Center, “It was a careful, thoughtful journey for us. A bright and exciting future exists. I can’t wait to see what we can accomplish as a single group.”

  • Through June 1, 2021 – PLATFORM 26 – Tree …#2

    For PLATFORM 26, South Korean photographer Myoung Ho Lee adapts one of his singular Tree photographs for a large-scale billboard set in deCordova’s verdant Sculpture Park. Traveling across South Korea and Mongolia, Lee searches for stunning, solitary trees to photograph. Once he finds the perfect subject, a production crew hoists a blank canvas behind the tree as Lee captures it with his large format camera. He later digitally erases the cranes, ropes, and assistants, leaving only traces of their existence in the final composition. Tree…#2 distills the natural beauty of Lee’s travels, while also revealing the performative nature of photography that is often concealed.

    PLATFORM is a series of one-person commissioned projects by early-and mid-career artists from New England, national, and international art communities that engage with deCordova’s unique landscape. The PLATFORM series lets artists expand their practice and visitors experience new approaches to contemporary sculpture. Free with admission to the park, located at 51 Sandy Pond Road in Lincoln. For more information visit https://thetrustees.org/exhibit/platform-26-myoung-ho-lee-tree-2/